New Zealand National DH Championships - Photo Epic
Would it really be a New Zealand event if it weren't tormented by bipolar weather? It's the end of February and the end of what is typically our hottest month here at the bottom of the globe. In the few weeks leading up to the 2018 New Zealand Downhill National Championship temps have been scorching and the trails have been getting blown out. The Nek Minute though, ol' mate Cyclone Gita comes roaring through only three days before the start of the event, bringing with it 50+ CM of fresh snow.
With Cardrona Alpine Resort playing host to the pinnacle event of the national calendar, event organizers faced a lot of headaches when Jack Frost paid the highest ski resort in NZ a visit on Tuesday Night. With the dump came a whole new set of challenges, including how to get the track exposed and dried out. Not to fret though, the team at Bike Wanaka, Cardrona Bike Parks and a group of hardy volunteers dug it out whilst mother nature melted the rest away.
Come first tracks on Saturday morning though, amongst the pockets of white pow lay some of the best trail conditions riders have ever seen between the tape.
Uplifts with views. Not a bad way to spend a weekend!
Start gates atop New Zealand's highest ski resort
Straight out of the gate riders were presented with a nasty little rock garden.
"Is my GoPro on bro!?"
National Champs always brings together the countries best, but this year even a few of the retired came out for a visit. Cam Cole, welcome back to the show.
Not the type of trail features Hamish McLeod is used to but knew the only way to get through the upper rock garden was to twist it wide open.
Keegan won here last year, did he have what was needed to repeat?
A fresh rig underfoot and an aggressive track, Wyn Masters was in his element.
Once again Patrick Hale struggled with a more natural and rugged track and didn't have what was needed to mix it up with the heavy hitters in the U19 field.
Louis Vuelta at wrap speed down the hillsides.
Wyn Masters won practice with a textbook armpit sniffer.
Matt Walker may not have been slashing turns like Brook, but he was looking equally as fast in practice.
He may have got through most of Saturday's practice without a crash, but Isaac Ewen did come unstuck in one of the many rock gardens later that afternoon. Thankfully he wasn't hurt, but his confidence may have taken most of the blow.
Shania Rawson had a tough weekend with some stiff competition in the Women's field.
Coming off the back of 3 wins in a row, Blenki had a target painted on his back.
The Bulldog giving the young pup a few words of wisdom.
Cole Lucas was who I believed to be the Dark Horse coming into National Champs.
Blake Ross made short work of all the technical features and looked to be the U17 Junior to beat.
Patrick may not have won the race, but he sure had the best bowl cut on the hill!
The froth never stops with Keegan Wright.
Some rode the rock gardens, others jumped. Either way, wheels took a beating this weekend.
The Coffin was claiming a few riders over the weekend, and Brook Mac almost become another one of them.
Calum Booth rode with no expectations or pressure this weekend, and it showed. Smooth, aggressive and relaxed.
With Peter Bethell on the sidelines after suffering a broken collarbone at Oceanias, it was up to mini-Bethell, Liam, to get things done for the duo.
Tuhoto floating that Zerode rig around like it was a feather. I haven't seen anyone ride a bike so smooth or channel such a strong a BMX style for a long, long time.
Was Wyn saying his friendly hellos to the UCI commissaire, or paying him off...?
Cardrona turned it on with luxury uplifts on the Chondola
The only place in NZ where the lads get uplifted on a ski chair.
It's often too easy to get caught up in the hustle of the race, but being in mountains makes you take a step back and appreciate things more.
No team mechanics up here boys!
With near perfect conditions all day and a big storm front starting to set in late in the afternoon, it looked like luck was about to run out one day early.
With an 8am start, frosted tips on the mountain tops and being up at 1100m presented a whole new set of challenges; including how to keep your hands warm during a run. Ash Bond and Louis Hamilton whipped out the old rubber gloves to pop under their riding gloves.
A few quick tune-ups and Dane was set to complete another solid sandbagging.
Laurie Greenland may not have been able to take a national placing this weekend, but was still out there giving the kiwi's a hurry along
With the wind gusting up to 100kph, riders took refuge in the cafe until the very last minute.
Those high winds caused havoc and forced the Chondola Ski Lift to close, causing the upper sections of the track to be cut out.
Remember at school, how there was always that one joker in class? Well, Rupert Chapman is that class clown at this school of shredding.
Rocks - 1, Wheels - 0
Finn Hawkesby-Brown excels on tough tracks, as he's demonstrated throughout the season. But he seemed a little off the pace this weekend and finished +4.06 for 5th in U17.
Guy Johnston. The little man who is capable of the biggest runs. Like Sam Robbie, he too was unable to back up his Oceania's win and had to settle for 4th in U17.
Blake Ross was battling hard also, hungry for the U17 title, but that U17 class was incredibly tight and he had to settle for 3rd.
Finn Parsons seeded 2nd, some three seconds back on Alex Barke, but pulled back that time in his race run, only to get pipped by 0.42.
Eyes on the prize but sadly Harry Sangster didn't start on Sunday.
Nikki Clarke's weekend didn't end as she had hoped, suffering a torn ACL.
Riding my bike, Isaac Ewen tweaked his way into 9th in U19. I'll collect my $40 for the brake lever soon thanks.
Boaz Hebblethwaite saw a penny on the ground and went about picking it. Safe to say he wasn't getting up quickly from this.
After Boaz's mega rock garden crash, he sat out his seeding and race runs. Heal up buddy.
Sam Robbie was unable to back up his Oceania result this weekend with a 4th in U19.
Not to be disheartened though, Sam has had an incredible season and things are shaping up for him leading into his first full season of World Cups as a privateer.
Charlie Makea came out swinging and rode loose all weekend. Straightening out sections of track that had slow corners, and riding like he had a point to prove. 3rd in U19 but with plenty more fire to keep burning.
Keep charging like this though and he should have a good World Cup season.
Josh Oxenham wasn't going to let anyone stop him try his hardest to get that sleeve this weekend, but he didn't have any answers when Tuhoto put a second into him during seeding before he took his final swing, coming up short by 2 seconds.
Who doesn't love a good underdog success story. Tuhoto-Ariki Pene. The most unsponsored, unsupported rider on the hill and riding in a borrowed kit, threw down the run we all knew he was capable of to win the U19 title. National Champ and the peoples' champ.
Tuhoto-Ariki Pene, what more is there to say! I've been telling anyone who would listen all season that he was going to be one to watch and sure enough today he pulled on his first fern.
 | First of all, to the dudes that worked on that track through all that nasty weather this week, moving rocks, dirt, snow and just putting it all in to make what I’ll say was one of the most fun tracks of the season; Kia Kaha! To come away with the win was unreal for me. After battling all season with the boys in U19 and constant tight racing, I’m glad to say I finally got my win aye and at the event that counted the most... yeyaahhh! Still can’t get my head out of the clouds but such a good weekend, such a different thing to come from the roots in Rotorua and onto the rocks and open tracks with mega winds! But all in, an extremely good weekend of racing from the bros! |
Dane Nimmo, the fastest master of the group, put 35 seconds into the rest of the masters' field. Let's hope he heads back into the Elite category next year for some stiffer competition.
James Carley loves a good track, and that showed. 3rd in Sport Men.
Ash Bond may not have had any other competitors in the Sport Women class, but her time of 4:26.96 would have put her 4th in Elite Women.
| It was wicked to return to the technical track down the Cardrona ski field, this was my second time racing here and I love challenging myself on different terrain! Comparing my time from last year and to go over a minute faster on a very similar course with a year of racing experience, I’m stoked. |
Amy Cole came out racing for the first time this season and rode a super strong run.
She's still got it. 3rd place in Elite Women.
Shania Rawson rode like she had a point to prove all weekend, but with Kate Weatherly coming off the back of a clean sweep this season, Shania had to be on her game.
Digging deep right till the end, but falling short by 12.65 seconds.
| I definitely had a fun weekend on the hill. The track was sick and the conditions couldn’t have gotten much better. Looking forward to Crankworx Rotorua in a few weeks. |
Kate Weatherly dominated National Champs this year from start to finish. Putting almost 13 seconds on Shania, this is surely a sign of things to come.
| The track was awesome and the dirt was pretty much perfect. I'm stoked with how my run went since I was right on the edge the whole time and I somehow managed to hold on, it was great to see so many riders out racing and it was a generally a great event, even if it was a bit windy on Sunday. |
The Jack of all trades, Sam Shaw. He raced the elite XC race on Saturday, placing 3rd, then proceeded to race the hardest track of the year blind and took 21st. Not quite the 3rd he had the day before, but he gets an A for effort.
If bar turns resulted in placings then Ben Karalus would have placed much higher than 19th in Elites. He said he felt strong all weekend but that it clearly didn't translate to a strong time on track.
Simon Read may not have had his best National Champs, but at least he beat his buddy Ben Karalus.
Lucky 13th for Brannigan this weekend. Not what he was looking for, but after a long off-season spent recovering he had to start somewhere.
Liam Bethell getting well tucked up, but it wasn't enough against the field of World Cup pros. 14th in Elites is by no means a bad placing though when there are 24 racers on the list, plus another 12 internationals in the same class.
Never count Louis Hamilton out. This may have been close to his 10th National Championship, but he was still up there with the big boys, rounding out the Top 10.
| Cardies track is a beast! Such good fun to ride different terrain to what I’m used to. Also to have a stacked field of competition is awesome! I’m satisfied with 10th, had a smooth run and still in one piece.. couldn’t quite match the pace of Eddie! My highlight of the day though.. Tuhoto Ariki. |
Calum lay down an incredible run and came across the line for 9th in Elite.
Rupert Chapman didn't get the result he was looking for this weekend, but seeing teammate Eddie take the win must have been a sweet second.
Chappo won't be content though. Watch out for him come the start of the WC season.
Curious Cole was keen to see how he seeded.
9th to be exact.
Cole Lucas upped his seeding result by 3 places and finished up 6th with a time of 3:00.00
Bryn Dickerson is another small name rider that comes out swinging. 7th in Elites, tidy work as per usual.
On the charge, Wyn didn't win the battle of the brothers this year, but did finish up 5th.
I spy last years National Champ, Keegan Wright. With any of the top 10 capable of pulling out a win, Keegan's chances of a repeat were slimmer than that of winning this game of Connect 4.
Keegan was on fire this weekend, there was no denying that, but with the like of Brook, Sam & Ed all on form, it was never going to be easy to defend his title. 4th place amongst a podium of World Cup / EWS winners though is still bloody good.
| Super sick day out riding on such a mint track! The Cardrona team always put on a great track for the nationals! Happy to come away with 4th with a semi-clean run! Feeling mint on the bike, now it’s time to start getting ready for some overseas action! |
Matt Walker proved many sceptics wrong and showed that he has got some strong form at the moment. He heads into the start of the World Cup season by taking the bronze.
| This year's National Champs in Cardrona was epic! The crew up there worked amazingly hard to get the track from being completely buried in snow a few days before to one of the best tracks we have raced in a long time! Stoked to come away with 3rd in such a stacked field with tight racing! The bar has been set pretty high here and looking forward to the season ahead!! |
The Bulldog was hunting hard all weekend, but the sleeve escaped him once again.
Inside lines and all!
| Another good weekend of racing. The track conditions were all time and the boys did a good job getting the track ready after a big snowfall during the week. Bit of a bummer that the winds caused the lift to stop so they had to cut the track which made it shorter. Pretty happy with my result and stoked for Ed to take his first National Champs title. |
Blenki looked to be on-pace all weekend. 1st in seeding by 2 seconds.
Sam Blenkinsop's weekend ended suddenly with a violent crash after his back wheel got pushed offline coming to a small bridge.
On a blinder of a run, Blenki got his rear wheel on the wrong side of a little bridge and that sent him flying.
Laurie Greenland was on form all weekend and his time showed that. +1.68 back on Eddie and 2nd place on the day.
Eddie Masters schooled the competition this weekend and showed that if he can stay on the bike then he is more than capable of winning against some of the best.
Even if Blenki hadn't crashed, Eddie may still have won it. His race time was 1.5 seconds faster than that of Sams. It would have been close!
Take a walk Eddie. Long time coming.
Fresh silverware for Eddie. He hasn't had an Elite NZ National Title before.
| What a weekend of racing bikes. An epic track, hero dirt and one of the deepest fields we've seen at nationals in a long time. It's always been a dream of mine to run the sleeve so I'm over the moon with the result. I'm super happy with how things are going and it's a great start with the new team. |
After winning his first NZ Elite Title, you can't knock Eddie for having a smile this big.
These are the future faces of New Zealand Downhill. L to R - Josh Oxenham (2nd), Tuhoto-Ariki Pene (1st), Charlie Makea (3rd)
What could have been! Blenki was on fire all weekend and you'd have been silly to not put money on him for the sleeve. Next Year.
Matt Walker explored new podium grounds by drinking champagne off the top of Ed Masters head. Only in NZ.
Results
Elite Men's Podium
Elite Women's Podium
1st - Eddie Masters ( 2:51.09 )
2nd - Brook MacDonald ( 2:54.02 )
3rd - Matt Walker ( 2:55.50 )
1st - Kate Weatherly ( 3:27.93 )
2nd - Shania Rawson ( 3:40.59 )
3rd - Amy Cole ( 4:10.92 )
Full Results
Mentions: @cameronmackenzie
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
*never mind just read the other comments
Super unfair to females.
Fortunately 99.9% of the mountain bike community are tight and supportive of one another regardless of gender or nationality.
Go back to the festering hole that you came from you worthless cretin.
@harrybrottmann: The jury's still out on whether it's actually fair, but the powers that be say she can race. And from a strictly performance point-of-view her result is nothing spectacular when compared with the elite men.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3761733
For the time being, this competition and the results are considered "fair".
However, it also is thoughtless and uncivil for Kate to not consider the effect that his/her actions have on the feelings and lives of the women in the sport. Their feelings matter as much if not more than Kates.
I'm not saying that our current language pattern of man = XY and woman = XX is the best, or can adequately handle the complexities of modern life, but those are the definitions that most people will identify with. A statue of a woman or female figure is not a biological woman, but we still call it female, for example. It may very well work in societies best interest to label trans-women as just women, but that hasn't played out yet or had the time to develop.
Finally, it is without question true that males have district physical advantages over females, even when held up to UCI standards of 1 year of hormone therapy (which is a poorly defined term).
i said she a lot
What happened to being inclusive? Regardless of whether you think it's fair, the shitty comments are 100% unnecessary and they 100% suck. I hope you're proud of yourselves.
I for one think it's great to see someone that's obviously had a hard time in life out there having fun on a bike.
www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/act-sport/transgender-footballer-hannah-mouncey-opens-up-on-aflw-draft-and-homelessness-20171211-h02k56.html
You missed my point. I'm not interested in whether you think it's fair or not, you're entitled to your opinion as you say. However some of the discriminatory comments on here are just vile and completely uncalled for.
The majority of the comments have been civil. I suspect that because they're not overwhelmingly postive about transgender you can't tell the difference.
It's not a problem in our community so don't come and create one.
I made the point above that if you compared Kates' time with the winning time in elite men then her performance is not unexpected. However, I've also questioned (in an earlier thread) her move up to elite women from open men while undergoing/ recuperating the most invasive phase of reassignment too. That "levelling-up" strikes me as questionable, but again the level of competition may not be comparable between Open men and women, so she was forced to enter elites instead. The powers that be (NZ Cycling, UCI etc.) say she can compete and that her results stand because she followed the process they laid out to ensure a level field (so in theory she has no physical advantage). The problem though, is that process will be influenced heavily by the available subjects for testing, who are very few and far between and are *probably* more likely than the average male to maintain a female physique long before their reassignment, so it's likely they're not even indicitive of the average physically-active male who opts to change their gender, let alone an experienced male athlete. The lack of worthwhile data in this area allows for potentially significant abuse since our governing bodies are required to justify their rulings with accurate science (when it suits them I guess). So for now, cases such as this one are deemed "fair", but who knows what may happen in 20 years.
Decrying the injustice of it all on PB won't change anything. If anyone feels that strongly about it, go get a degree and/ or put in the work to support the research that informs policies such as these. Just don't be surprised if the results say that some transgender individuals, such as Kate, are still eligible to compete.
Unfortunately, society is evolving and in 100 years you will f*cking hate living on this rock if you think it's getting "bad" now.
@Deuce-DeuceAndAHalf: Thank you, end of.
BTW - Check the results of the DH race in Fontana. Top 2 are over 30 seconds ahead of the rest. Shall we take a look inside their shorts?
You are white knight
Cuckoldry
How does it feel to be a
Cuckold
You went way off topic.
If you want to be nice and treat people equally, then you would advocate that biological men shouldn't be racing against females.
It's not fair for biological females to be racing against men.
Has nothing to do with being politically correct. It's about true fairness, otherwise one should just get rid of gender classes all together and let all the women race with men
Regarding the blurred gender racing thing, @Deuce-DeuceAndAHalf sums up my thoughts perfectly. The complexities of the issue cannot be addressed in the simplistic terms you use, however comforting they me be to you.
I believe depth of field is the biggest problem. I'd like to see how Kate would do in World Cups and hopefully we'll find out. I suspect she wouldn't win any.
As for my choice to leave America... I mostly did that to escape winter and keep riding my bike. I'll be returning mid May, then back to NZ when the snow begins to fall in Colorado. It's just that NZ is not entirely what I expected. Only my ignorance can be blamed for that though...
Anyway, I think it's near impossible to change people's minds through debate nowadays, since so many views that I deem misguided (at best) are validated by our overlords every day. Fighting fire with fire is cathartic though and the internet depersonalises us enough to disinhibit the way we express our more abrasive opinions. I'm guilty of that too. It's hard to take into account each individual's character nuances when all you see of them is black type on a white background. But honest, respectful communication can take us some of the way. It's not always easy though. Empathy for those we clash with is also useful. Fixed positions based on prejudice are not, especially when we're talking about dragging the whole of society towards a more enlightened paradigm. I hope I'm making sense.
Trying to connect with those we don't necessarily see eye to eye with is very constructive though. Shame it's so rare.
Unless you mean highest lift accessed MTB? In which case - I have no idea. Great photos though!
Don’t be surprised. I won’t be.
The world's gone mad